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Fish in the Neuse River have been dying for two and a half weeks now, according to estimates.
State Water Quality officer Bert Simons estimated that fish in the Neuse River have been dying for two and a half weeks now, while Coastal Carolina River Watch's Rick Dove says he's been fielding calls since at least Oct. 2, when they started washing up at Carolina Pines.
As of Sunday, thousands of dead menhaden were washing up along New Bern's shores while the strong odor of their rotting carcasses could be smelled downtown. The same thing is happening along the Pamlico River, Simons said, and it's a kill that residents can expect to see continue for at least another two weeks.
"The fish kill is just going on day after day," Dove said. As to the size of the kill, he said, "Nobody's out there doing a count that I know of," but based on his experience, Dove is willing to guess that "we're in the millions at this point. Quite possibly the tens of millions."
Fish that are still alive "are in their death spirals," Dove said. "You can see them everywhere."
It is the third fish kill in four months, following on the heels of kills first reported on July 10 and Aug. 11. Dove described these kills as "moderate" in size.
The last major fish kill, in which about 200 million fish were killed, began just over a year ago on Oct. 2, 2012. That kill, Dove pointed out, took 30 days, and he expects the current one to follow a similar pattern.
Neuse Riverkeeper Lauren Wargo agreed.
"Dead fish will only float for about 48 hours, so what you see out there have just died," she said. Wargo also described schools of fish swimming with open sores and added that the bottom of the river is littered with dead fish that have sunk.
Tests to determine the cause of the kills have been slowed by the federal government's shutdown —the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Lab in Morehead City that organizations such as the Neuse Riverkeepers usually use to test samples is closed.
"I have samples of the dead fish in my freezer," Wargo said. "It's really gross."
Simons, who said his fellow Water Quality officials are in the process of testing both water and fish samples, believes the problem culprit is a water mold called athanomyces invadans. The mold seems especially fond of brackish water and menhaden.
"It's historically been implicated in fish kills in North Carolina in the past," he said. "What it is, is a spore, and it infects the fish. The fish gets infected with a fungus and develops an ulcer. It ultimately leads to tissue necrosis."
Simons did not speculate on what caused the mold to come around, other than to mention that "they say rain events do it, and it happens more in cooler temperatures."
He said the state Division of Water Quality does not believe oxygen levels had anything to do with these kills, and added that "I'm not going to speculate" on the possibility of nitrates or "human impact" had anything to do with the kills.
Wargo seemed to disagree, stating that oxygen depletion probably worked with the spore to kill the fish. The open sores caused by the spores weaken the fish, she said, while the poor oxygen levels finish them off.
Oxygen levels in rivers are lowered when excess nitrates enter the estuaries, usually from the Goldsboro area on down, she explained. She said the nutrients are caused by a number of sources: "agriculture, livestock growers, waste, residential fertilizer."
The nitrates feed algae and numerous plants whose rapid growth quickly eats up the oxygen in the water that fish need to survive.
"As an example," she said, "The creeks by Hatteras Yachts, they're clogged with vegetation and algae… when the wind blows, it kind of blows water out of the creek, and that water can be extremely low in oxygen.
"I've heard from some people that this looks very similar to what happened last year. We're definitely keeping an eye on it and keeping the public aware."
Dove has no doubt that at least part of the growing fish kill can be tracked to nitrates and other manmade causes. He pointed out that the state reported to the EPA that the Neuse estuary was "impaired" for aquatic life in 2010.
The current kill covers a wide area that Simons described as going from a little above New Bern to at least the Minnesott Beach ferry on the Neuse, and from the city of Washington to Pamlico Point on the Pamlico River.
While Wargo said "it could be worse —much worse," Dove wonders if the kill is small because there aren't as many menhaden left in the river to kill.
"I've been watching menhaden in this area for 40 years now," he said. The schools he has seen in 2013 "are not the huge schools we typically see… The numbers I've seen this year are way down."
Those lower numbers may be the result of so many fish kills over the past two or three years, he said.
While the spores are not known to cause problems for humans, both Wargo and Dove strongly advise people and pets not go into the water or touch the fish.
"The Division of Water Quality, the Department of Natural Resources, has a warning to all people that if they see dead or dying fish, that they are not to go into the river, or let their pets go in," Dove said. "There's a reason for that. When the fish decay, there's a tremendous amount of bacteria that builds up in the water."
Wargo put it more simply: "It's just not a good practice to be swimming with dead fish."


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You can't tell me they are not on the take, the foundation takes them via private air travel always.
Crooked HRC !
You can't tell me they are not on the take, the foundation takes them via private air travel always.
Crooked HRC !
If you check the Australian donations.. the then foreign minister Downer ( who is involved in other crooked stuff like leaking in the Russia Investigation )
Signed Australia up to a donation deal to the Clinton Foundation for Millions .. and the Foundation had already been wound up.
The Clintons pocketed the cash .. The Australian Govt. never checked and just gave the money and now have a cover up on their hands
that they have done through both Liberal and Labor Governments.
Notice how Julie Bishop, ex foreign minister is always brown nosing HRC.. Bishop is a crook and will I bet soon get a job
with some dodgy "Non Profit" just like that disgusting Julia Gillard ex PM.. They should all be in prison.
And further.. check out how those countries were treated in one way alone --- weapons ..... crooked HRC and family
Oh , I think it's more about oil, pay for play , long term favours and power with the Clintons.
I'll come back to this tread, I've got info in this I wrote an article about.
I've seen bits and pieces of this story and it runs very deep. There is an Aussie journo called Michael Smith who open this up.. Also an American congressman who is following this story and undercovered the muck n the underbelly of this. Sadly apart from Michael Smith, everyne who calls out the Clintons seem to die before they can testify.
It's called Arkecide.. check out here the list of people HCR and that distgusting Bill and daughter have buried.
Also check out Bill Clinton and the "Lolita Express" .. and if you don't know what that is, well check it out.
It's well documented.
If you and I did something wrong , like steal a coke from a Walgreens, we'd be done, but the Clintons, nah, they get away with anything.
This is always a sad story o tell someone

subset: commoncrawl


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When I turn on my MacBook Pro it starts with a sound of checking CD inside and the case light detector turns on as usual, and ventilators starts to run, but monitor is still switched off.
At the beginning right after it happened, I just switched off/on the computer once and it started again with all it's processes and a typical beginning sound, but without a screen. Moreover, I was able even to login (in blind mode) and really check if the machine is running, because my Internet sharing has been started as soon as Mac OS starts. So my network has been accessible in other computers and I was sure that the problem has been just in my monitor.
Than I tried to turn the computer on/off manually by holding power button many, many times. And it almost always did the same process, starting with a typical Mac sound at the beginning. But later on, it stopped to make this sound, however turned on with a sound of checking the CD, running ventilators. But I am not able to login anymore and seems login view is not loaded anymore. Monitor is still not turning on at all. Perhaps, this could happen, because I was pushing on/off button too many times or so?!
But right now, I am having it turning on, just with ventilators, case light and a sound of checking the CD, and that's it. Computer is opened and located here on my table ready for any checks...
I already has been in Apple center and they made a 3 days diagnostic, saying my motherboard is broken, but I don't believe them at all. Services are made very bad here in Austria. I was trying to explain that I was able even to login, but the conclusion has been final - motherboard and -$50.
So, I don't trust in their checking at all and wish to hear your opinions, if this is motherboard or some other stuff could be broken?!


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Lead Flashings
Parapet gutters have horizontal flashings on the parapet side. The flashings are secured by being wedged into joints in the parapet or screwed into the joints. This results in the lead not being able to freely expand or contract along this side. Lengths of flashing should therefore be kept short to avoid excessive movement, with laps every 1,5m. Movement in longer lengths will result in a crease forming when the material expands. Over time fatigue lines form and eventually fracture from repeated expansion, allowing water ingress. In such circumstances it is not necessary to renew the entire flashing, as a small piece of lead can be wedged and pointed into the flashing joint, lapping over both sides of the crack.
Further problems can occur when a flashing that is turned into a masonry joint springs out, allowing water ingress. This can happen through inadequate fixings or because the turn in to the masonry joint is too shallow.
Deep Flashings and Vertical Flashing
A flashing of 250mm width can have anything up to 150mm of unprotected substructure behind it. The installer should always check that the lap is slightly more than equal to the exposed substructure, to ensure that the flashing protects from wind driven rain. This is usually an unseen potential failure point, but easily checked by lifting the overcloak and measuring the lap.
It is essential with vertical cladding to ensure the fixing is correct. As the codes of the lead increase, the weight increases and a common fault is the head fixing, which should be determined by the size and weight of the panel. Normally Codes 4 and 5 are used for vertical cladding, and panels under 500mm high can be adequately secured with one row of nails fixed 50mm apart. For larger panels two rows of nails are required, 75mm apart with staggered centres. Panels using Code 7 or 8 should be fixed with three rows of nails.
Where vertical cladding has been inadequately fixed at the head, problems present themselves in the form of slipped. Over-fixing results in bulging panels where movement has been restricted.
Clips are an essential element of vertical cladding and should be fitted to the bottom edge to prevent wind lift. The lower 2/3 of a vertical cladding panel must be left free to expand and contract with natural thermal movement. Vertical clips should therefore be turned so that a minimum gap of 6mm is left to allow the panel to expand.
A clip that is fitted without this gap is easy to spot. If it is a lead clip, the panel will simply push the clip open. If the clip is of a hard metal, such as copper, then a bulge will form in the lead immediately above the clips, clearly showing where its movement has been restricted.


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Small Incontinence Products
Sizing and fit for incontinence products is very important. Products should fit as close to the body as is comfortable because a loose product often causes leaks.
Because fit can vary by manufacturer, you may wish to try a sample of the products you're considering before buying them.
Measure both the hips and the waist of the individual and use whichever measurement is larger to find the correct size. A properly fitted product should be snug on the body, but not tight.


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Michael Jackson estate rolls out 'Hollywood Tonight' video despite underperforming album
All things considered, the debut of a new Michael Jackson music video comes as a bit of a surprise.
Not because the King of Pop is no longer living -– we've come to terms with that -- but his first posthumous release, "Michael," sorta came and went without much of an impact.
But his estate is pressing on with the video for the Teddy Riley produced "Hollywood Tonight," the album's second official single and one of its standout tracks.
In the video, which premiered Thursday, a young woman steps off a charter bus, suitcase in tow, ready to take on the big city. She moonlights as a waitress by day, a stripper by night, hits the audition circuit to no avail. Stop us if you've heard this story before.
Released in December, the album didn't leave a lasting impression on the hungry buyers ready to get their hands on anything Jackson-related –- or ever garner a wave of critical acclaim (we gave the album a middling two and a half stars). Though it debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 228,000 copies, its sales paled in comparison to the soundtrack to "This Is It," which sold 890,000 copies in five weeks.
Producer Rodney Jerkins, who had a major hand in Jackson's final album, "Invincible," told The Times that he felt "Michael" was rushed and not something the performer, a well-documented perfectionist, would allow to see the light of day, with the exception of the album's first single "Hold My Hand."
"Most of the times, the first [posthumous album] is supposed to be the best," Jerkins said of the release, adding that the estate has talked to him about releasing the stuff he and Jackson did together. "Ultimately, I would have to decide based on the songs I hear that they were planning on including."
Late last year, Jackson's estate signed a $250-million deal with Sony, which will involve the release of 10 albums -- both original and reissue collections -- over the course of seven years.
Only the video for "Hollywood Tonight" is being released stateside; the estate is shipping the single overseas and opting for "Behind the Mask" on U.S. radio and are crowdsourcing fans for its accompanying video.
-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
Photo: Single cover of "Hollywood Tonight." Credit: MichaelJackson.com


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Where Would You Rather Go for a Product Demo: A Corporate Demo Center or a Customer Site?
 Oct 22, 2013
If you were looking to purchase a production digital printing device, a platesetter, or workflow software, where would you rather see it? I think it's clear that if possible you'd like to see it in action at a customer site. At a customer site, you could see an actual implementation and ask real-world users all the questions you want about the product: Does it do all they say it can? What problems have you had? Is it upgradeable? Can it handle the types of jobs that I want to run on it? What are the service and consumable costs associated with this product? Of course this type of dialog is ideal, but how many sites would be willing to put up with this on a regular basis? Recently, I got a chance to see how this might work at an innovative print service provider called ImageMark Business Services in Gastonia, North Carolina (just outside Charlotte), which is embarking upon a partnership with Kodak.


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syngo QVA
- Automated contour detection
- Determination of degree of stenosis
- Automatic and manual reference diameter determination
- Automatic and manual calibration methods
- Distance and angle measurement
- Measure up to 10 diameters along the analyzed vessel, e.g. for aortic aneurysms
General Requirements
Minimum Software Version
syngo X Workplace: VB21
Please note: Additional technical prerequisites may apply. Upon receiving your request, your local Siemens representative will clarify whether your system meets the requirements.


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|NAPCO Security Technologies, Inc. (NAPCO), incorporated on December 3, 1971, is a diversified manufacturer of security products, including access control systems, door-locking products, intrusion and fire alarm systems and video surveillance products. The Company's products are used for commercial, residential, institutional, industrial and governmental applications, and are sold worldwide principally to independent distributors, dealers and installers of security equipment. The Company's access control systems consist of a range of identification readers, including card readers, hand scanners; a control panel; a personal computer (PC)-based computer, and electronically activated door-locking devices. When an identification card or other identifying information is entered into the reader, the information is transmitted to the control panel/PC, which then validates the data and determines whether to grant access by electronically deactivating the door-locking device. NP-TRF28100 NAPCO 28VAC 100VA XFORMER. We strive to offer you the best selection and the lowest prices. Please review the NAPCO NPTRF28100 and let us know what you think about it. For more information about the product, large/bulk order discounting or estimated shipping. The Company manufactures a range of door locking devices, including microprocessor-based electronic door locks with push button, card reader and biometric operation, door alarms, mechanical door locks and simple dead bolt locks. The devices control a single door, and in the case of the Company's microprocessor-based door locks, the devices network with its access control systems and control remotely. The Alarm systems consist of a range of detectors, a control panel, a digital keypad and signaling equipment. When a break-in occurs, an intrusion detector senses the intrusion and activates a control panel via hard-wired or wireless transmission that sets off the signaling equipment and causes a bell or siren to sound. Communication equipment, such as a digital communicator is used to transmit the alarm to a central station or another person selected by a customer.
There have been no reviews


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Joining Amazon Student, which is a free program, offers some bonuses for students.
For the first six months, Amazon Student members receive free two-day shipping, a perk of Amazon Prime, on eligible purchases.
Amazon Student, which also features discounts for members, is offered to college and university students with a valid .edu email address.
After the temporary free access to Amazon Prime free two-day shipping benefits, students receive more Amazon Prime benefits for a fee, unless they opt out of the Amazon Prime subscription.
Rules and restrictions apply.


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Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning-SCDL Admission Date Extended
Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning-SCDL Admissions 2009
Admission date and prospectus sale date has been extended to 31st August 2009
Admissions in SCDL distance learning programs
Symbiosis Centre for Distance SCDL Learning announces admissions to the following programmes. (SCDL is an approved Distance Learning Institute by the Distance Education Council, Govt of India.)
Two-Year Post Graduate Diploma Programmes
Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGDBA)
Post Graduate Diploma in International Business (PGDIB)
Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (PGDHRM)
Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology (PGDIT)
Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Administration (PGDEA)
One-Year Diploma Programmes
Post Graduate Diploma In Insurance Management (PGDIM)
Post Graduate Diploma in Retail Management (PGDRM)
Post Graduate Diploma in Customer Relationship Management (PGDCRM)
Post Graduate Diploma In Supply Chain Management (PGDSCM)
Post Graduate Diploma in Instructional Design (PGDID)
Post Graduate Diploma in Pre-Primary Teachers Training (PGDPTT)
Aanced Diploma in Creative Writing in English (ADCW)
Diploma in Creative Writing in English (DCW)
Six-Month Certificate Programmes
Certificate Programme in Entrepreneurship Development & Management (CPED)
Certificate Programme in Right to Information Act (CPRTI)
Certificate Programme In Cyber Laws (CPCL)
Certificate Programme In Consumer Protection Act (CPCPA)
These programmes will commence in January 2010
Single Courses:
Business Communication
Management Accounting
Marketing Management
Human Resource Management
Financial Management
Total Quality Management
Management Information System
Business Law
Corporate Programs
Corporate Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (C-PGDBA)
To Apply
Prospectus and application forms are available at SCDL office and selected AXIS Bank branches mentioned in website(www.scdl.net) on payment of Rs 900/- by cash or DD of Rs 1100/- in favour of 'The Director, SCDL, Pune', payable at Pune (India) for receive by post or courier within India or US $75 for receipt outside India. Students must mention their name, address, contact nos and purpose on the reverse of their DD. Students must remain to copy of their DD to safeguard against loss in transit. SCDL is not liable for any loss or refund of unidentified DDs. Students can visit SCDL website for non receipt of prospectus.
For more information visit-: http://www.scdl.net/


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'Harry Potter' and the Race to $1 Billion
Harry Potter beat The Dark Knight. The boy wizard clobbered the contemporized Batman. Indeed, the real story would have been had Deathly Hallows flopped, not if it made a mint.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans
Rated: PG-13
Studio: Warner Bros.
Year: 2011
US date: 2010-07-15 (General release)
Harry Potter beat The Dark Knight. The boy wizard clobbered the contemporized Batman. What, exactly, does that mean, and why should anyone care? Well, over the 15 July weekend, the last installment in the worldwide publishing phenomenon made its bow on big screens everywhere, and managed to rake in more than $169 million dollars. That's ten million more than Christopher Nolan's smash Summer of 2008 hit managed over the same marketplace timeframe. When you calculate in all the overseas money (another $307 million) and the continuing love for the effort (fans and critics seem duly satisfied), you've got a title destined to break into that elusive club of cinematic billionaires. While other Potters have come close (the first film is sitting right at $974 million), many predict this will be the one that breaks through.
Of course, the key question is why? Why would this be the installment that finally finds box office supremacy, and why should anyone care? Indeed, when you remember a previous article about how world receipts overly influence overall return tallies, it seems silly to even guess. Right now, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has made close to $763 million with, again, a ratio of nearly two to one representing the rest of the planet. So if Deathly Hallows Part 2 manages to make somewhere near $300 to $350 million in North America, it's more or less given to go nine figures. As with Michael Bay's latest, however, this doesn't mean that David Yates has made one of the great films of all time. Nor would fans argue that this was the best of the Harry Potter bunch. Indeed, the real story would have been had Deathly Hallows flopped, not if it made a mint.
Situationally, this result is rote. You have a ten year long movie event that has managed to build interest and audience investment with each passing installment. Though they knew/know who it ends, the devoted and the newly knowledgeable have to show up to see the send off. Now, if each movie had been worse than the last, a disappointment of both execution and source, Harry Potter would have turned into The Chronicles of Narnia. That famed C.S. Lewis franchise is currently flailing around creatively, probably looking for another sucker studio to crash land at. Now, because of some smart choices initially (dumping Chris Columbus, hanging onto Yates), Potter manage to survive...and thrive. At this point, what with all the hype and the first half of the finale already set in people's minds (and Netflix queues) Part 2 had to triumph.
But there is more to it than just waving goodbye to a well thought of imaginary friend. The Summer of 2011 has been a bastion of mediocrity, a stunted display of the worst that Hollywood can manage. Had the Deathly Hallows Part 2 had any real competition for theater space, had it not bolstered its take a bit by the unnecessary inclusion of 3D and IMAX, it might not be sprinting toward the billion dollar mark. Indeed, one could easily see the last act being as popular as the others, sticking between $700 and $900 million and being happy about it. But since there is nothing else out there of great commercial consequence, and the rest of the world appears eager to swallow almost anything ponied up by Tinseltown, a good movie will sudden step into the realm of giants.
That's what's so bothersome about the 'Harry Beats Batman' hype. The Dark Knight is a far superior film to Deathly Hallows Part 2. It has more artistic merit, more vision, and a better grasp of basic cinematic classicism. The Potter films just want to make sure not to offend the fans. Indeed, they have never been about turning the material into something epic and timeless. If they had, JK Rowling would have let Terry Gilliam or some other actual auteur take on her titles. By carving them up into singular pieces and then protecting each one via strict creative control, the author bungled her own continuing legacy. Her films are fine, not fantastic. This means that, at some point in the next decade or so, a substantive backlash will have fanatics imaging a "better" set of Potter films, and the argument for remakes/reimaginings starts up in Messageboard Nation.
Some, who know Rowling, believe that this will never happen. After all, she is very protective of her Harry. But money, as the song says, does indeed change everything, and if someone in the world offered her $1 billion for the right to turn the books into, say, a massive HBO miniseries with the ability to deal with all the discarded material the films couldn't fit in, who's to say she will say "No." After all, she has started her own website to try and address some of those ancillary (and a few new) issues. Also remember that the studios have been killing themselves looking for the next young adult book to film franchise, the local Cineplex littered with their discarded disasters. Their failures almost guarantee a continuing return to the Potter troughs. Indeed, there's a greater chance of seeing some other Harry product on a screen - big or small - than seeing another installment of The Spiderwick Chronicles or a continuation of I Am Number Four. Maybe something along the lines of X-Men: First Class, perhaps?
As is always the case, profitability never equals artistic value, though the final act in Harry's long journey is indeed a solid spectacle. Looking over the rest of the highest grossing films of all time, few will be listed among the artform's all time best. Still, it's quite an accomplishment to tap into that massive a swath of the entertainment zeitgeist. Even non-Potter people are lining up just to see what the hubbub is all about (one imagines them being highly disappointed, considering their lack of investment in the entire franchise). In a few weeks, when Deathly Hallows Part 2 breaks into the box office upper echelon, there will be more meaningless praise. And then The Dark Knight Rises will open next year and the conversation will recalibrate all over again...until Pirates of the Caribbean 5 finds a release date...and so on...and so on...and so on.


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Free Entry
Lady Elliot Island has many wonderful dive sites, but one of its most impressive is Anchor Bommie. This tower of coral sits on the sandy sea floor at 21 metres and stands 10 metres tall, a very imposing sight. Riddled with ledges and small caves, the bommie is often swarming with cardinalfish, which are in turn fed upon by patrolling packs of trevally.
Checkout all the ledges and you will find coral trout, coral cod, leaf scorpionfish, moray eels, tasselled wobbegongs and maybe even a Spanish dancer nudibranch. The sand surrounding Anchor Bommie is a good place to see whitetip reef sharks, stingrays, shovelnose rays, turtles and garden eels. But don't forget to look up as manta rays circle the top of this bommie to get cleaned by the resident cleaner wrasse.


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Hey, you! Want more social media "buzz" in your life?
Then forget about so-called social media consultants and how-to guides. If you're looking to engage your Facebook friends, get things going on Twitter, or attract commenters on your hipster-themed Tumblr blog, stop messing around and start pissing people off. It's science!
According to a study by U.K. research group Statistical Cybermetrics, cyberspace citizens are overwhelmingly attracted to the negative. (Gasp!)
To confirm this fairly obvious fact, researchers used an algorithm called "sentiment analysis" to identify emotional content in posts left on the BBC's online discussion forums and the link-sharing website digg.com, reports New Scientist.
Pinpointing keywords, emoticons and subtle linguistic markers such as misspellings, the algorithm calculated a "happiness score" for each post. "Long conversation threads are overwhelmingly more emotionally negative than short ones, with happiness scores decreasing logarithmically with the number of messages," writes New Scientist. "What's more, long conversations almost always start with negative comments."
No doubt you needn't go beyond your personal Internet experience to find an example, or even the headlines. Case in point: Bristol and Willow Palin's recent Facebook flame war which began after during the premiere of their family's TLC reality show.
"'Sarah Palin's Alaska' is failing so hard right now," posted one Facebook user as his status update. Along came the Palin sisters, with curse words and homosexual epithets aplenty.
"That's it — all it takes to start a fight that continued for dozens of posts and drew in a dozen mudslingers and rubberneckers over the course of about an hour," writes Emily Bazelon in a Slate analysis of the flame war.
Indeed. "If you want a long chat, don't start by saying 'I love this!', at least not online," says Mike Thelwall, head of the research group that conducted the study.
Nothing brings people together like low happiness scores, the study found. An avalanche of posts containing negative keywords, emoticons and misspellings will generate a social group from nowhere, Thelwall told New Scientist. Often all it takes is a single provocative post to create a community ready to throw down — at least online.
Consider the case of Cooks Source, a small, regional magazine recently taken down by an angry Internet mob. In a LiveJournal blog entry, a freelance writer wrote about her frustration after she confronted Cooks Source about publishing her apple pie story without permission.
The blogger included portion of the Cooks Source editor's pedantic response in entry, the most "provocative" portion of the entry. In it, the editor incorrectly claimed the blogger's story was "public domain," and added, "We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me!"
"Oh no she din't!" howled the Internet. Thousands of messages of SHAME littered the Cooks Source Facebook fan page, fake Twitter pages lampooning the magazine popped up, the editors' home phone numbers and addresses were published online, and Cooks Source advertisers were harassed.
In a single day dedicated Web surfers (who never met the wronged blogger) crowdsourced other examples of possible Cooks Source plagiarism. Two weeks after the maelstrom began, the magazine announced its end.
"This is all typical human behavior, turns out. "There is evidence that group cohesiveness may be related to negative feelings about others," Tom Buchanan, a psychologist at the University of Westminster in London, told New Scientist. "Members of an online community might unite around a perceived attack on them or some aspect of their identity."
If you're looking to kick up some action online, religion and politics are a couple of surefire subjects that will unite or divide a crowd. But if avoiding conflict in cyberspace is more your cup of tea, lots of people seem interested in Keith Richards' new biography "Life."
According to head researcher Thelwell, "We've seen that the least vigorous discussions tend to be about aging rock stars."
Helen A.S. Popkin's negative keywords, emoticons and misspellings will generate a social group from nowhere. Find out when you follow her on Facebook and/or Twitter.
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


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Exclusive: Intel Xeon Phi Preferred Pricing Revealed – Only $400 per Card?
During the recently held Intel Developers Forum, we heard of moves the company is pulling on all fronts: desktop chipsets are gaining more features in order to fend off AMD's 2013 Virgo platform, mobile chips are continuously being touted as equal to their competition (even though recent video from Qualcomm easily disputes that) and more importantly, the company is pushing to dismiss NVIDIA's line of HPC products, the Tesla GPGPU parts.
We have spoken with senior representatives from financial as well as scientific institutions and the responses to our queries were quite mixed. From one side, legacy code will have easier ride on the Xeon Phi, even though you have to recompile if you want to use new features. Naturally, if you need to recompile – it doesn't matter are you recompiling into CUDA, OpenCL or MIC code path – work ahead is guaranteed.
In order to sweeten the Xeon Phi pill, Intel deployed standard and some non-standard tactics in order to win businesses. Besides free samples for evaluation, the company offered very affordable pricing to its first customers. However, we thought that the company will start with realistic pricing once we start talking about deployments measured from hundreds to thousands of cards. Anything else could be viewed as price dumping and uncompetitive practices, for which the company was target of multiple anti-trust investigations by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and EC (European Commission).
Thus, imagine our surprise when we learned prices Intel gave to Texas Advanced Computer Center, who is currently in the final stages of building their super computer. A year ago, TACC won the $27.5 million award from NSF, targeting the creation of 10 PFLOPS machine named "Stampede".
In order to reach the 10 PFLOPS target, the computational power in Stampede is split in two parts. First 2 PFLOPS come from 6,400 nodes carrying two Intel Xeon E5 Series processors (Sandy Bridge-EP) and 32GB of DDR3 memory. Second part of the system comes from the countless MIC cards (now known as Xeon Phi), which were supposed to deliver 8 PFLOPS. As it turns out, the "countless MIC coprocessors" fell a bit short of the target, with TACC expecting more than 7PFLOPS, but less than 8PFLOPS. Third part of the Stampede system is 16 memory nodes with 1TB of DDR3 memory and two NVIDIA Tesla K20 boards. Furthermore, Tesla K20 boards are located in 128 out of 6,400 compute nodes for computational purposes, bringing the total number of K20 boards to 144. This number pales in comparison to around 6,500 Xeon Phi boards. The ScaleMP virtual SMP solution is used in order to create a shared memory environment, spanning across all 16TB of memory. This part will mostly target "big data".
While the prices of Intel Xeon E5 systems and the Tesla boards were delivered at special but still realistic pricing, we were quite surprised to learn that the computing center only paid around $400 per Xeon Phi board. Given that competing Tesla K20 boards retail for $3199 (available in December), this can be viewed from a price dumping perspective. Bear in mind the TACC only had $2.4 million for Xeon Phi boards, and reaching 8PFLOPS e.g. 7+ PFLOPS requires around 6,000-7,000 boards. At $400, it is quite a steal.
We have reached Intel for comment and received the following reply:
"We do not comment on any rumors or speculations related to product pricing before it is actually launched. We have not yet announced any pricing details of Xeon Phi and you may expect to get more on this when we announce the product later this year."
Thus, the nature of the $400 price can be traced with the fact that TACC took most of pre-production Xeon Phi boards. At the time of writing, it is not known if these boards are pre-production Knights Corner or first samples of Knights Ferry. All we know is that the boards are specc'ed at 300W TDP, feature 61 mini-core, 512-bit memory interface and 8GB of GDDR5 memory.
Regardless of the price, numerous universities in the TACC ecosystem will benefit heavily from the Stampede supercomputer. According to the TACC representatives, there are several hundred projects which will be running on the supercomputer from the very first day, projected around January 7th, 2013. Clemson University, Cornell University, Indiana University, Ohio State University, University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) all teamed up with the University of Texas in Austin and El Paso.
The story about the Stampede doesn't end here. There is a second generation already in works, which would feature 2014-class Xeon Phi processors, with the goal of bringing additional 5 PFLOPS of compute power. Given that there is enough space in the supercomputer, we expect that second generation might reach the desired 15 PFLOPS. This upgrade should meet with additional $24 million planned for the support of the Stampede project into 2017 and onward.
Original Author: Theo Valich
This news article is part of our extensive Archive on tech news that have been happening in the past 10 years. For up to date stuff we would recommend a visit to our PC News section on the frontpage.


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It is a tragic reality that that several of our ancestors were involved in the witch trials at Salem in the late 17th century. Those involved were relatives whose lines decended through to the Currier line and the Pond/Dickie line.
Among our accused family members were three Towne sisters – Rebecca Towne Nurse, Mary Towne Estey, and Sarah Towne Cloyse. Their parents were William Towne and Joanna Blessing. Mary Estey's husband Isaac's parents are also ancestors, Jeffrey Estey (Esty) and Margaret Pott. Nicholas Frost was also accused, grandson of his namesake, an original settler of Kittery, ME.
Members of the Jury included, three members of the Fiske family, their cousins – Thomas Fisk (Foreman of the jury), William Fisk, and Thomas Fisk, Jr. It is interesting to note that their decendants, Ruth Fiske and Richard Estey, married. One would wonder if family resentments remained. Could theirs have been a forbidden love?
Officiating minister in the trials was no less than another one of our "esteemed" ancestors the Rev. Nicholas Noyes, pastor at Salem, and the son of founding settler of Newbury, Nicholas Noyes.
"The sheriff brought the witch up the broad aisle,
her chains clanking as she stepped."
The above drawing illustrates a scene in John Musick's book, The Witch of Salem, in which Rebecca Nurse is brought in chains to the meeting house where the Rev. Nicholas Noyes pronounces her excommunication before the congregation.
One must wonder who "the congregation" was. Those she once considered friends, neighbors, those whom she had worshipped with? Family members?
~ * ~
On September 22, 1692 Rev. (I hate to even call him that!) Nicholas Noyes officiated as clergyman at the executions . It is reported that he turned toward the suspended bodies of the victims and said, "What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there."
Witch or prophetess: Before the execution of Sarah Good, Rev. Noyes asked her to confess. Her famous last words were, "I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink." Twenty-five years later Noyes died of a hemorrhage and literally did choke on his own blood.
Rebecca Towne Nurse & Mary Towne Estey were executed. Nicholas Frost was released as well as Sarah Towne Cloyse. Sarah and her husband, Peter, moved away to Marlborough, MA and joined a different church.
Later in life Rev. Noyes repented of his part in the witchcraft persecutions and did what he could to assist the dependent families. Jurors, Fiske, also confessed to their error in sending the so-called witches to their eternal damnation.
~ * ~
This statue depicts Rebecca Towne Nurse, Mary Towne Esty, and Sarah Towne Cloyse, wearing shackles, being under arrest for witchcraft. The statue is located in the Salem Wax Museum of Witches and Seafarers, Salem.
~ * ~
"O Christian Martyr who for Truth could die
When all about thee owned the hideous lie!
The world redeemed from Superstition's sway
Is breathing freer for thy sake today."
From "Christian Martyr," by John Greenleaf Whittier.
17th Century Colonial New England


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|Redshirt Senior
|Downingtown, Pa.
|High School:
|Downington East HS
At Charlotte -
2015- Cross Country: Competed in six meets, where she ran her best race of the season at the Conference USA Championships, finishing 32nd overall at 18:50.9… Finished 26th overall at the Charlotte Invitational in September… Turned in two Top 15 finishes at her first two meets of the season, coming in 15th at the UVa Duals and 12th overall at the William & Mary Invite
2015 - Indoor: Finished runner-up in the 800 meters at the Conference USA Indoor Championships clocking a time of 2:10.96 for the second-fastest time in program history....Also apart of the fourth-place distance medley relay team at the C-USA Championships with a time of 11:53.53...
2014 Cross Country: Competed in two meets for the Niners....Was Charlotte's third finisher at both the W&M Open and Charlotte Invitational....Finished 19th at the Charlotte Invite completing the 6K course in 23:06.8.
2014 - Outdoor: Competed in eight meets...Posted personal best times in the 1500m and 3000m...FInished second overall in the 800m at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships with a time of 2:1.33...Member of the school record holding 4x800m relay team at the Penn Relays with a time of 8:51.18...Ran her best 3000m at the 49er Classic (11:13.86)...Posted a personal best in the 1500m at the Bill Carson Invitational (4:39.32). Indoor: Competed in the UCS Invitational...Competed in the 400m with a time of 1:01.25.
2013 - Cross Country: Competed in five meets...Finished 45th overall at the Conference USA XC Championships running the 5k in a time of 18:48.76...Posted her best 6K of the season at the NCAA Pre-Nationals finishing the course in 22:56.31 with a fourth place team finish.
2013 - Outdoor: Led Charlotte in the 800m and ran her best 800m time was 2:08.22 at the NCSU Last Chance Meet … Finished fifth in the 800m (2:11.38) at the Atlantic 10 Championships … Was on the 4x800m relay team (9:00.91) that finished fourth at the conference meet … Ran the team's third-fastest 400m time (58.83) and finished seventh at the Charlotte Invitational … Was seventh in the 1500m (4:44.29) at the Va. Invitational. Indoor: Finished sixth in the 1000m run at the Atlantic 10 Championships with a team-best time of 2:59.01 … Ran the second leg of the 4x400m relay team that finished third at the A-10 Championships with a time of 3:52.33 … Finished fourth in the 800m run (2:15.72) at the Tiger Paw Invitational.
2012 - Cross Country: Competed in six meets ... Had the lowest 5K time on her team which was 18:13.5 at the Queens Invite to finish 15th ... Finished 68th at the Atlantic 10 Championship (19:30.8) ... Her best 6K performance was at the NCAA Southeast Regional (23:25.94).
2012 - Outdoor: Member of the 4x800 relay team that won the Atlantic 10 Championship with a time of 8:54.94 … Was second in the 1500m run (4:47.57) at the Charlotte Invitational. Indoor: Finished 14th in the 800m run (2:16.51) at the Penn State National Open.
2011 - Cross Country: Competed in six races ... Had two top-20 finishes, coming in 13th at both the Charlotte Duals meet (19:36.91) and the Elon Invitational (18:49) ... Elon finish was her fastest 5K time of the season ... Competed in NCAA Pre-Nationals, finishing the 6K event in a time of 23:43 ... Finished 83rd at A10 Championship in a time of 19:30.5.
Prep: Three-time Ches-mont champions in track … 2009 Ches-mont champions in cross country … DMR PA state champions … First Team All-Ches-mont … Second Team All-Area in outdoor track … Penn 4x400-meter relays won their division … Placed fifth in the 800-meter run at indoor track state meet, setting the school record with a time of 2:15 … Outdoor track First Team All-Area … Set the indoor school record in the 600-meter with a time of 1:38.9 … Finished fourth in 800-meter at outdoor state meet … Finished fourth in the 4x800-meters at outdoor track state meet … Holds outdoor school record in the 800-meters (2:14.1) … National Honor Society.
Personal: Daughter of Rick and Cheryl Carcella … Undeclared major … Born July 26, 1993.


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Microsoft has released Avatar Kinect, an add-on to the Kinect Fun Labs that lets users record videos as their avatar and share them with the online community.
Avatar Kinect captures expressions and voice so when you smile, nod or speak, your avatar does the same.
"See your facial expressions and gestures on your Xbox avatar as you chat with friends in our 3D stages and produce your own TV shows", explains Microsoft.
The update will bring a smile to hordes of obsessive Xboxers who spent all their pocket money on clothes for their avatar already, as it gives them a new platform to make use of their purchases.
Eventually Avatar Kinect will require an Xbox Live Gold subscription, but is free until 8 September along with 24 virtual environments and the option to upload your recordings to the social feckwork or send them off by email.
The company will also launch Kinect Sparkler this week, which allows users to draw glittery lines and mess about artistically with 3D photographs of themselves. ®


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The developers of the condominium at 211 East 13th street in a section of Lower Manhattan have come up with a new name for their hood, the "Northwest East Village," leaving many to wonder if their name will stick. The New York Times reports that they might be trying to "freshen the images of the area," or to create a buzz about the building.
Normally, the East Village has been considered East 14th, to East Houston, and Third Avenue to Avenue D. The "Northwest East Village" spans from East 11th to East 14th Street, and Avenue A to Third Avenue.
The 82-unit condo was named for a vaudeville theater that used to stand at the site. To advertise for it, posters have been slapped up promising "Everything works!" and "Central air-conditioning!" in the style of old movie posters. Apartments start at $1,600 a square foot, which is reasonable compared to other new downtown condos. So far, 56 of the units have gone into contract.
U.S. & World
Henry Hershkowitz, who has lived and worked in the East Village for years, was the sales director for one of the neighborhood's first luxury condos, 123 Third Avenue. He admits he had no idea what to call the area, either, before developers settled on calling it "East Union Square." There, a two-bedroom is listed at about $1,600 a square foot, but is planned to sell over the asking price.
Other condos can be found at 110 Third Avenue, where a two-bedroom is listed at $1,500 a foot. The 96-unit A Building condo on East 13th Street has a three-bedroom penthouse listed at $1,900 a foot.
Since people are buying in the "Northwest East Village," perhaps a new name is in order, after all.
Read the full story on the New York Times.


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Fasanerie Palace, one of the finest baroque residences in Hessen is in a slightly elevated position around seven kilometres from Fulda and surrounded by magnificent forests. This modest summer residence built for Prince Abbot von Dalberg at the beginning of the 18th century still forms the heart of the palace between the two towers. The complex we see today was designed by the architect Andreas Gallasini for the first Prince Bishop of Fulda, Amand von Buseck, in around 1740. Its north wing has a dazzling, original, rococo stucco ceiling, while the south wing houses a treasure trove of 19th century craftsmanship with an array of exquisite artisan works and Empire-style furniture. A priceless porcelain collection, which includes pieces from all the early European factories, can be admired in separate showrooms. The antiquities collection at Fasanerie Palace is one of the most important private collections in Germany. Its holdings, which include a wide range of ceramics, myriad small works of art, large sculptures and busts, span more than a millennium. The palace is surrounded by an enchanting park of around 100 hectares. Originally a simple hunting park prior to 1738, the grounds were converted into a baroque garden for the Prince Abbot (later Prince Bishop) of Fulda, Amand von Buseck. Baroque features, such as pavilions and other focal points, can still be seen in the palace park today. Fulda itself is well worth a trip, and boasts attractions such as St. Saviour's Cathedral, Stadtschloss Fulda – an early Renaissance palace from 1706-1721 – and a series of impressive altars and funerary monuments including the tomb of St. Boniface.
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The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild has become a driving force in the ongoing effort to protect coin collectors and museums in which coins are stored from being forced to give up these items to foreign governments under the premise the coins are the cultural patrimony of the claimant nation. — Richard Giedroyc, World Coin News April 26, 2010
The ACCG year in Review -- open to the general public. This meeting is published in the ANA convention schedule for 2:00 PM on Saturday in Room 5. In order that members might be able to attend the Numismatic Theater presentation about the Hunt Collection of Ancient Coins by Mike Gasvoda at 2:00 PM, the ACCG meeting has been rescheduled to 1:00 PM on Saturday. The meeting place remains the same.
Membership meeting in Love room (lower level) open to the public
Copyright © 2004-2010 Ancient Coin Collectors Guild. All Right Reserved.


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I'm not going to lie. This past week has been very difficult.
Like so many of us do, I tried to be the woman who could do it all; maintain a fairly clean home, keep the laundry pile at a level that wouldn't swallow up one of the children if they happen to fall in it, be helpful to a very busy husband, play happily with my children and provide meals that consisted of more than just leftover Halloween candy.
Most days I do this job joyfully. I adore my family and love being a wife and mother. I also know myself enough to know that I need a break. Even if it's an hour or two in the middle of the week to get away, pray, breathe and create something that doesn't require Elmer's glue and kid's scissors. I need that. For me to continue to be the woman that God has called me to be I need that time away.
Many weeks I just try to power through. I convince myself that I can do it. Life is so busy and demanding that often it is that hour or two that is the only flexible item on our calendar. I let it slide and rely on my own strength to keep it together and I always fail.
I reach a breaking point. Which is where I found myself this week. Too many days without a moment taken to step away, re-evaluate and appreciate. Throw in some postpartum hormone craziness and I found myself in a dark place.
Let me take a moment to explain why I want to share this with you. Usually this blog is my happy place. A place for me focus on all that is good in my life and for me to share with you my passion and joy. I am so blessed, but I'm also human, imperfect and I struggle. I want this to be a place of vulnerability and honesty because through that we can learn from and inspire one another.
Postpartum depression is very real and I hope and pray that my vulnerability and willingness to share this part of my journey will give words to the emotions and feelings that so many mothers have. I'm speaking to myself when I say it's not something to push aside and try to deal with alone.
I let myself sink deeper into a dark pit of self-doubt, insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. I felt as if I was a hollow shell of a human, going through the motions with no feelings of hope or creativity that usually ignite me. I had nothing to give, no words to speak and no sense of purpose.
This isn't the first time I have felt this way. It's never easy but I always walk away stronger and more knowledgeable as to how to deal with it.
The path out of this pit looks different for everyone and is different for every circumstance. I'm still on that road but there have been a few steps taken that have really helped bring me back from the edge.
As hard as it was I admitted this feelings and made them a reality by becoming vulnerable to a couple people who love me very much. This has helped me to feel understood and to see that I'm not alone, I'm surrounded by love and now I have some accountability.
Most important for me on this journey is that I love and serve a God who loves me. I know that it is not by my strength but through His that I can do my job and do it well to His glory. Even in that, I know that depression is so often not a battle of the spirit but an actual chemical imbalance that benefits from modern medicine. I'm not belittling that one bit as I have in the past used such medication. I am merely speaking to the path that I am on right now and how I am finding my hope again.
I know that I am emerging from that dark place when I feel tinges of inspiration. I look at a photo, a painting or a recipe and my heart leaps with excitement. I live for these bursts of creativity and the joy I get from seeing others create from their passion and doing the same myself.
By God's grace I have been inundated with a bountiful collection of stunning cookbooks lately. Some I've purchased myself and some have been gifted to me from publishers with the hope that I would share them with you. I don't often do recommendations on my site but I just can't let you spend one more day without these books in your life.
For me they have been a source of joy as I flip through their pages and immediately begin to create grocery lists to recreate the recipes. The author's words have refueled my passion and have inspired me to both pick up the spoon to stir the pot and the pen to write.
It is so important for us to continually refresh ourselves with the works of other artists and creators. Taking time to dream, refresh and to remember what it is that ignites us.
I am so thankful for these fellow artists. Through their joy they are helping me to rediscover mine.
Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours
Excuse me while I gush like a teenage girl that just met Justin Bieber. Recently I had the great pleasure of meeting Dorie Greenspan. After meeting Dorie I decided that I wanted to be like her when I grow up. Not only is she a baking and cooking genius but she is gracious, inspiring and just so darn cute in her uber modern glasses. Her passion is infectious.
The recipes in her latest book are accessible, inventive and suitable for both weekday meals and weekend entertaining. I've already tried her recipes for Waffles and Cream, Vietnamese Chicken Soup and Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good. The book is filled with creased corners of future recipes I am eager to try.
Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys
I had heard so much wonderful praise for David Tanis' first book, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, but I have yet to get it. It's back in the #1 position on my wish list after pouring through his latest book, Heart of the Artichoke. This book is stunning. The images, the page layouts, the font, the feel of the pages – everything about it, visually, makes me weak in the knees.
I can't speak of the recipes yet, as I just received this book and have yet to cook from it but pages have been tagged and meals are being planned. Trust me, you will hear of this book again on this blog.
I have been so excited for this book to come out. Shauna and Danny are incredibly passionate, joyful, loving and talented. I am so honored to be able to call them friends.
In the past week I have spent several evenings immersed in Shauna's poetic words as she intimately describes her and Danny's story. She writes with such grace and beauty that she manages to make even a proposal that was quickly followed by a fart seem like a perfectly romantic moment fit for any movie screen.
These essays tie together 100 recipes that create a delicious love story. I'm very excited to try the smoked-salt caramel ice cream and the blue cheese cheesecake with fig crust – among many others.
The book was beautifully photographed by Lara Ferroni.
Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes
It's quite obvious that I have a thing for salt. So of course I'm in love with a book that is solely dedicated to this essential ingredient. Most everything you could ever want and need to know about salt and all it's various forms is in this gorgeous book.
It is written and photographed by the owners of The Meadow, a delightful store in Portland (now New York as well) that sells salt, wine, chocolate and flowers.
I am now convinced more than ever that I need to own a salt block – I mean come on, who doesn't?! Or how about a Himalayan salt bowl to serve chocolate fondue out of? Yes, please.
These books have been such a gift to me recently. They've led me back into the kitchen, inspired me to take beautiful images and have me dreaming of the book(s) I hope to create some day.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this. Being so vulnerable in this space has been a challenge for me but I trust that this is a subject that needs to be out in the open and you kind folks have supported and encouraged me through so many of my life's ups and downs, I feel safe.
I'd love to hear what inspires you and pulls you out from your dark days.


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It's no secret that most human-animal conflicts don't end well for wildlife -- but in a rare show of interspecies hospitality, an entire community in India has decided to relocate in order to make room for big cats in need of some extra space. Last week, all 350 residents of Umri, a village in an important wildlife preserve in the northern region of Sariska, packed up their things and moved to a new, less ecologically sensitive locale nearby, and all for the sake of securing a bit of space for a rapidly dwindling tiger population.
Over the course of a century of encroaching development in India, the nation's once thriving tigers numbers have been reduced by over 98 percent. In recent decades, the establishment of protected zones, like the Sariska Tiger Reserve, have enabled the species to avoid extinction for now. The tiger's long-term survival, however, may depend on a reversal of trends -- by letting the wilderness reclaim some of the land it lost to humans.
According to the BBC, Umri is actually the second village to relocate entirely on account of helping tigers. And, in the coming years, four other communities are likely to follow, but they aren't without incentive.
The villagers are compensated with land, cash and livestock worth up to 1 million rupees ($20,000) and relocated to the nearest cultivable plots outside the reserve, Rajasthan's chief wildlife warden AC Chaubey told the BBC.
No matter the cost, conservationists believe that relocating villages in the tiger's habitat could help bolster their numbers -- and the help is much needed. From an estimated population of 100,000 at the turn of last century, a 2011 census reveals that a mere 1,700 are still exist in the wilds of India..


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I recently did a TEDx Rainier talk on The Fun of Climate Change. I hope you will watch it and forward a link to this page on to your friends. In a nutshell this is what I said:
There are three ways to respond personally to the news about climate change: Denial, Depression or Doing something about it. One of these is far more fun than the others.
We need to have fun with global warming for two reasons:
- Gloom and doom are not selling very well; in fact it appears that they drive people into denial and depression.
- We need a lot of creativity to solve the challenges of global warming and people are a lot more creative when they are having fun.
That said, we appear to be headed rapidly toward a tipping point after which, even if we stop emitting CO2, the temperature is likely to run away to a stable hot house state which is about 13.5° hotter than now. We are talking alligators in the Arctic. So how bad it that?
Mother Nature will be fine (forgive the metaphor)
Mother Nature has been in the hothouse before. In fact she has spent more time there in the last 600 million years than in any other state. In her moment of greatest creativity in the last 600 million years, the Cambrian Explosion, the carbon dioxide level was 3000 parts per million and the average temperature was around 13 degrees hotter than now. In a brief moment of only about 20 million years, nearly every major category of multicellular life came into being. In a later hothouse era, flowering plants evolved. Later in another hothouse era most of the major categories of mammals evolved.
If we let the temperature rise out of control we may lose over half the species on Earth, but that loss will be followed by a period of rapid species creation, which might even be a leap forward in the complexity, diversity and amazingness of life.
As you can see my recovery from climate depression has forced me to take a very long view, but I ask you to understand. I became deeply depressed by the threat I perceived after reading too many James Lovelock books in a row, a threat not only to the human race, but also the vitality of life on Earth. It is good to know that, even if it does not relate to human time scales, that in the long run nature will be OK. Nature has been in the hothouse many times before.
But what about Humans?
Will the human species survive runaway climate change? To be sure it seems likely that as we adapt to the new conditions we are likely to greatly reduce the human population. However it also seems clear that humanity will survive. Again I take comfort in that. But why do I believe it?
The species that survive ecological catastrophe are generalist species like raccoons, foxes and cockroaches. These species can adapt to widely different climates and conditions. Specialists not so much. Monarch Butterflies, for example, depend on arriving at their temperate feeding grounds just as the milkweed ripens. If anything interrupts that cycle they are toast.
Generalist species like cockroaches, raccoons and foxes can be found in almost every climate and every ecosystem. They adapt to new conditions.
So what about people. Short of bacteria we may be the ultimate generalists. We flourish on ice flows and the tropics, deserts and rainforests. People will still be part of the mix.
With a little luck we will be smarter as we rebuild civilization. Every religion will have some version of "Don't mess with mother nature," built into its core principles. We may even learn to work together for the good of all. Generally after each catastrophe humans create a renaissance. I wish I would be here to see it.
One basic principle emerged again in this talk, The Happo Dammo Ratio. You can check that out in an earlier blog post by that name. It is, I believe, the basic metric we need to optimize to address climate change and environmental destruction.
The happiness created by an activity
Happo Dammo Ratio = -------------------------------------------------
The damage done by that activity
In the TEDx talk I give an example of raising the Happo Dammo Ratio 1000 fold. If we can do that in some cases we can achieve an average an improvement of five fold, which is what we need to stop climate change. Get good at raising that number and there will be enough for everyone.
The Happo Dammo Ratio also shows what is going wrong. When I was a young lad I believed that I needed a 400 horsepower car to get laid. That shows how little I knew about women, but it also illustrates the basic mistake we are making over and over in our society. We are trying to improve our relationships with stuff.
After moderate amounts of food water clothing and shelter, what makes people happy are the quality of our relationships, the meaning we find in their lives and our institutions, the generosity we display and so forth. These qualities are not about things. By seeking happiness through things we are not only destroying the systems on which our civilization depends, we are also directing ourselves away from any effective path to happiness.
Check out an example of improving the Happo Dammo Ratio one thousand fold either in the The Fun of Climate Change or the The Happo Dammo Ratio .
The rest of my talk was about examples of high Happo Dammo performance in business. I hope you enjoy the stories.


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In your face, darkness! We are the light and we outnumber you!
Not least because it's broadened Momo's mind.
I am hoping May is able to convince Momo that Sven is, in fact, a shithead. She's working on it.
If we can agree that May possesses great insight.
May only knows Sven as 'that guy we've seen a few times in the coffee shop that makes Momo all hot and flustered'. I doubt that she knows of his history (or would care much if she did).
Quote from: BenRG on 04 Jun 2018, 23:22May only knows Sven as 'that guy we've seen a few times in the coffee shop that makes Momo all hot and flustered'. I doubt that she knows of his history (or would care much if she did).She knows he's an asshole, which is really all anyone needs to. She may not know about his history but can sense that he's kind of a scumbag.
A lot of what makes us as readers dislike Sven is while we can see he is making progress he is still incredibly selfish. I agree that he isn't really a bad guy, but that doesn't really make him good yet. He may eventually get there and he seems to want to, he just has a lot of history to grow past.
To be honest, I sympathized with May. I don't agree at all with how she treated Winslow. It was shitty. But I work for 11 dollars an hour at the age of 34 while I watch 21 year olds jet off to Europe, so saying I know how May feels is a bit of an understatement.
I don't really understand being harsh on Tilly. Sure she was annoying, but she was just a kid excited about a possible new job. She didn't have a mean or malicious bone in her body, she was just excited. So I guess I don't understand that either.
Eeep! I completely used the wrong pronouns. Sorry, everyone. I get that Tilly definitely crossed some lines that weren't okay to cross. They should have respected Hannelore's wishes, I get that. But I don't see how they're anywhere near as awful as Sven.People can be uncomfortable about me disliking Sven. I guess I'm a little mystified as to why anyone is bothered by me not liking him, he's such an irrelevant presence in the comic.
Thank you for going back and fixing the pronouns! May offered to be Hannelore's bodyguard early on. Momo is friends with her and would make a respectful personal assistant. The dynamics of that would be interesting.
What thread did you mean to post that in?
With Faye's luck, Angus will roll back into town with some grandiose speech about how she's the love of his life and he can't live without her and of course a marriage proposal. *eyeroll*
FWIW, a while ago, I plotted out a fanfic where Faye creates some sculpture that ends up in a local art exhibition for one reason or another. It creates enough of an Internet sensation that Angus (in his first big break) is assigned by the show's producers to do a satirical report on the piece and the artist.Angus has to confront Faye and has to confront both his own bitterness at the suddenness of their break-up and at the nature of his 'replacement'. That's even before he has to confront his mixed feelings about being assigned to mock Faye and her big break on a nationally-syndicated comedy show.
These are, I believe separate issues since despite a small interaction Sven and May for the most part have had stories that ddidn't intersect way more than they did. However, I will add that I actually am not a huge fan of May at all. I don't hate her or even dislike her and her stories are compelling to read. But her awful treatment of Winslow moving from a chassis that kept him essentially home-bound to one that allowed him to live a more engaging life has soured my impression of her, especially her non-apology to his "owner" rather than to him, acknowledging him as person. I do feel for her plight surrounding her own body but even her chassis that was falling apart was in ways more serviceable that Winslow's and she acted like he was getting a frivolous upgrade due to wealth. Her crass nature doesn't make her a bad person but after awhile it just gets annoying. I'm still invested in her story but she's not on my top list of wise characters or characters I love to see. I really like her interactions with Faye when she got her face redone. I'd like to see that side of her more, especially earning the money to get it done and less of her yelling at people and making dick jokes. She can still do those things of course but just my references. Also, I'm not arguing for Sven + Momo. I'd like Sven to get his own arc, separate from what's been going on.
When people try to speak a gut reaction, they end up talking out their ass.
I'm under the impression that Melon may have been depressed (or something) at some point and decided to erase major parts of her knowledge and personality, including the knowledge that she'd even made that decision, and start over. Sort of like a lighter, happier version of suicide.... And, if that actually does turn out to be her 'deal', a decidedly disturbing counterpoint to Bubbles' experience.
I'm not doing well, OK? Do you get that?


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Hey everyone! I know, I haven't written anything or logged on for something like ages, but, well, what originally started as a short hiatus forceably changed into something much longer since my beloved computer died, taking to the grave with him all my unfinished works. Yes, all the already written chapters of my ongoing stories, plus snippets of other fics are... gone forever.
So, yeah, imagine how my already reduced inspiration could have fallen into nothingness once I'd lost all I'd already successfully written!!
Basically, I just wanted to let everyone know I am alive and well. I have a few ideas I've recently re-started working on, and, yes, I do plan to complete ALL my ongoing stories, even if it means re-writing the new chapters all over again. I don't know how long THAT will take, however.
I also would like to thank all of you who have always supported me and keep doing so, still reviewing my works and sending me lots of emails, even after such a long time after my last update. Thank you. I will try my best not to let you down and give you all new stories and fics to enjoy (plus, Sirius was getting irritated being all by himself in a corner and not running around pretty girls or quaffles in my fics).
Thanks for reading!
- Hallie
Hi! My name is Helen (Hallie for short) I love writing, I love HP (and fanfic), and I dream of becoming a published author someday... so read and review and tell me what you think!!!
But now, more stuff about me.
As i said, I love HP. My all time fave character is, of course, charming, handsome, irresistible Sirius Black. I SO ADORE HIM!!!
Unfortunately my dear jk has decided to just kill him off for no reason (I havent quite forgiven her for it), and that has pissed me off quite a bit. Okay, a lot. Let's just say that once I finished reading book five for the first time i was in tears, and i practically refused to even look at the damn book for the next few months. But I'm over it by now. That's why I enjoy writing stories in the Marauders era.
A close second is, obviously, James Potter. Very nice, very nice.
My friends tell me I'm like Hermione... But I like Sirius, not Ron!! Hmm....
I have scored a good 50% on the HP Obsession Quiz (of which I am very proud, I must add)... yes, I am obsessed.
Anyway, enough about me. Now read my stories, please!!! And dont forget to review!!!!!!!


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Need Thank You Cards TO THE TROOPS....please sit down & write a note of appreciation for all they do for us.
I currently need
{PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW CAREFULLY....I REALLY NEED THE CARDS TO BE DONE AS I HAVE ASKED....I DO THIS BY MYSELF & NEED YOUR HELP TUCKING THE FLAPS & CARD BACKS INTO THE ENVELOPES....I'M SPENDING HOURS DOING THIS & NOT GETTING TO MAKE CARDS MYSELF}. It would also be very helpful if you can put 2 cards in a ziplock...leave ziplock open tho so I can enclose a note plus 2 All Occasion Cards.
I am a Former Army Mom/a Blue Star Mom. My only son (our only child actually) is now a US ARMY Veteran. In March 2007 I started sending cards overseas to the troops in care packages. I have made arrangements to send the cards in care packages. All Occasion Cards (Love You, Thinking of You, Hello, Friend, Missing you, Birthday & kids, etc. ) for them to send to their children/loved ones at home/something they can personalize) are always needed .....I have been getting requests for Get Well cards that can be sent to injured buddies too....packages are sent monthly so send cards as you would like. I will be taking any store bought cards I get to the local VA Hospitals and Fisher House....PLEASE TUCK BACK OF CARDS INTO ENVELOPES AS SHOWN BELOW. Can also use donations of envelopes and cardstock always. $20 will give us the bones for 300 Cards.....cardbacks and envelopes. BIG NEED RIGHT NOW IS PRIORITY MAIL & REGULAR POSTAGE as I am getting alot of requests for more cards from the troops & always want to comply.
Glitter-free cards should be blank inside for the service member to write inside to their loved ones (their words are better than anything you can stamp out usually), must be with regular envelopes...,
tuck the flap into the envelope
(no clear envelopes please),
then tuck the back of the card inside envelope too.
Also, if you use dark paper please put light color insert so they can write on that. We always want Thank you cards from you TO the troops....with a personal note inside (thank you for your service, you are in my prayers, hope you come home to your loved ones soon, etc, No hope you don't get shot, etc.). Due to security issues these envelopes (envelopes are not required for the thank you cards to them if you don't want to put them in one) must be unsealed. You may use your email address as your hallmark on the back of the card if you like. This would be a great way to use the swap cards you accumulate.If you are interested in participating please email me with any questions you may have or to ask for the address to mail the cards to: pfcrensmom-cardsfortroops at yahoo dot com (change the -at- to @ or click the link & PLEASE DON'T DISRESPECT THE TROOPS BY USING THIS EMAIL TO SEND SPAM!). This is a year round project.
2013 Card Deadlines....
November 2 - Christmas
November 15 - Winter (non-Christmasy) & New Years
Thanks to the Troops are welcome all year (Please remember Armed Forces Day/May 18th, Patriot Day/September 11th, Veterans Day/November 11th-please send these a month ahead so can go in packages) ....take a moment to let them know how you feel about them.


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St. Peter Ording saw a massive crowd gather to enjoy the best freestyle kiteboarding action today with epic conditions: wind, flat water, and sunshine. After finishing the few heats that were left of the trials, the PKRA organized the Junior championships and moved on to the Freestyle single elimination.
The trials didn't bring any surprises as the highest men in the rankings made it to the main event: Hays (FRA, Cabrinha), Van De Kop (NED, Flexifoil), Paris (FRA, North), Schitzhofer (AUT, Best), Corniel (DOM, Ozone), and Garat (FRA, RRD) were all happy to be advancing into the top 24 and are ready to compete for first place in the biggest event of the year.
For the first time in the history of the PKRA we organized a Junior Championship to showcase the future generation of riders who will be appearing on tour in the near future. The competition was open to kids under14 years old and it was unanimously decided that Tom Bridge (GBR, North) won the Championship. At only 10 years of age, Steph Bridge's son (2009 IKA Course Racing World Champion) showed an incredible variety of tricks including a powered Front Blind mobe, Back Mobe, Blind Judge 3, 313, etc.
Judge Ian Sleuyter reckons that he will be the next world champion and would have easily qualified into the main event if he was over 14 and therefore authorized to compete in the main competition.
Tom said, "It was very hard, I had to beat my own older brother but I wasn't really stressed out. I rode on my 7 meter kite, well powered, the way I like it and I won, I'm stoked!"
Race director Olaf Van Tol commentated that he really liked the fact that the spectators could be so close to the action. Due to the wind being offshore the huge crowds lining the beach could see the riders perform their tricks only a few meters away.
The single elimination started with the youngest rider on tour Liam Whaley (GBR, Airush) beating Marian Hund (GER, North). Liam dominated the heat by riding a lot more powered than Hund who performed his tricks with his kite higher, therefore taking less risks than Liam.
For the next heat we met with Nils Wesch to sum up the action: "I had a good heat, the water was nice and flat, it was just a bit hard with these crazy gusts. I'm happy that the wind finally showed up after a week here in St Peter Ording. I landed all my tricks, rode with a nine meter kite and managed to win my heat against Jerrie Van De Kop who is a tough contender. Next I'm up against Alberto Rondina (ITA, Cabrinha), so it's going to be another story!"
Head Judge Sami Gali reckoned that the next heat, Corniel (DOM, Ozone) versus Blomvall (SWE, Nobile) was definitely the most exciting heat of the day with two strong competitors. Ariel was on fire as usual performing tricks after trick, but the Swedish rider has a lot more experience in competition and knew what the judges were looking for: good trick execution and well powered. Judge Carlos Saez reckoned that Corniel secured his heat by landing two double handle passes: a 317 and a mobe 7, which were both executed with technical precision whilst keeping the kite high. Ariel Corniel won with a 3-2 judges decision.
Tim Kummerfeld (GER, Core) was the only rider using boots instead of foot-straps in this event and he made a lasting impression on the judges. All the tricks that he landed were very well executed, especially a S-bend 3. Christopher Tack (BEL, Liquid Force) started pretty badly but improved throughout the heat and finally managed to land enough tricks to win with a lot more variety than Tim. He wins with a 5-0 decision.
The Dominican rider Alex Soto (DOM, F-ONE) had to verse Victor Hays (FRA, Cabrinha) who knew the reputation of the local from Cabarete and therefore did his best to remain consistent. But Alex now has great experience in competitive kiting and rides with a lot more power than Victor, he took the win and advanced into the next round.
Up next, the French riders of the event had to go out, first Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD) advancing easily against Morales (ESP, Slingshot). You could tell the difference in experience between both riders as Morales was trying a lot of tricks and crashing, meanwhile Sebastien secured his heat with his usual tricks.
In the girls division, the first heat was pretty close, Rapp (SWE, Liquid Force) and Jungo (SUI, Liquid Force) both landed a railey to blind but the decision of the judges went in favor of Manuela Jungo who landed a few more tricks.
Hannah Whiteley (GBR, Wainman) executed her manouevers with a lot of power but crashed some good ones leaving Holly Kennedy (GBR, North) to win the heat. Judge Carlos Saez reckoned that, "It was good for the confidence of Kennedy who deserves it, she was unlucky in Fuerteventura and here she had the chance to properly show her level. Plus the two girls coming from the United Kingdom are very good friends so it was an exciting heat."
Finally the German heat, national champion Lutz (GER, Liquid Force) versus Boese (GER, Best) the youngest german rider against the oldest showed the passage to a new generation of riders in Germany, Lutz won with a 4-1 decision.
At 4pm it suddenly felt like we were under an eclipse as the dark clouds invaded the sky. A massive thunderstorm engulfed the event site and the local meteorologists advised the PKRA to postpone the competition for safety reasons.
In 15 minutes the fully packed beach and the hundreds of kites were back at the event site under the tents, a few strikes of lightening were seen and it rained for a while which killed the wind completely and meant the rest of the competition is postponed until tomorrow.
Check us out on: www.prokitetour.com and on facebook


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VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 (1W-1L-0D) continue their United Soccer Leagues (USL) Premier Development League (PDL) season this Thursday, May 23 as they travel to Oregon to face Portland Timbers U-23 (2W-0L-0D). Kickoff will be at 11 a.m. at JELD-WEN Field in Portland.
In their last outing, the 'Caps fell 3-2 in defeat to Vancouver Island rivals Victoria Highlanders on Friday, May 17, at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium.
All five goals were scored in a wild second half, with Niall Cousens netting both goals for the Blue and White.
"Portland Timbers have amassed another good squad this year," commented Stuart Neely, Whitecaps FC head of high performance, on the match up. "They have quality players, are well coached and we're looking to take some points away from them this weekend and bounce back from our last match. There's no better team to do that against."
In their last match, on Tuesday, May 21, the Timbers fell 1-0 to Charleston Battery at JELD-WEN Field in US Open Cup play. Whitecaps FC loanee, Emmanuel Adjetey, set-up the lone goal for the South Carolina side.
In PDL action, the Timbers defeated North Sound SeaWolves 2-1 on Saturday, May 18. Forward Colin Clarke scored twice for the Timbers, as they continued their strong start to the PDL season.
Over two meetings last season, the 'Caps were unable to earn a point against the Timbers, as they lost two separate 2-1 decisions to their Northwest Division rivals. All-time, the 'Caps hold a 1W-6L-0D record against the Oregon side.
After this rivalry clash, the 'Caps return home to host North Sound SeaWolves on Sunday, May 26, at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. PT and admission is free to the public.


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NVIDIA's 1.4 Billion Transistor GPU: GT200 Arrives as the GeForce GTX 280 & 260by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on June 16, 2008 9:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- GPUs
Lots More Compute, a Leetle More Texturing
NVIDIA's GT200 GPU has a significant increase in computational power thanks to its 240 streaming processors, up from 128 in the previous G80 design. As a result, NVIDIA's GT200 GPU showcases a tremendous increase in transistor count over its previous generation architecture (1.4 billion up from 686 million in G80).
The increase in compute power of GT200 is not mirrored however in the increase in texture processing power. On the previous page we outlined how the Texture/Processing Clusters went from two Shader Multiprocessors to three, and how there are now a total of ten TPCs in the chip up from 8 in the GeForce 8800 GTX.
In the original G80 core, used in the GeForce 8800 GTX NVIDIA's texture block looked like this:
In each block you had 4 texture address units and 8 texture filtering units.
With the move to G92, used in the GeForce 8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512 and 9800 GTX, NVIDIA doubled the number of texture address units and achieved a 1:1 ratio of address/filtering units:
With GT200 in the GeForce GTX 280/260, NVIDIA kept the address-to-filtering ratio at 1:1 but increased the ratio of SPs to texture processors:
In the previous designs you'd have 8 address and 8 filtering units per TPC (or 16 streaming processors), in the GT200 you have the same 8 address and 8 filtering units but for a larger TPC with 24 SPs.
Here's how the specs stand up across the generations:
|NVIDIA Architecture Comparison
|Streaming Processors per TPC
|Texture Address Units per TPC
|Texture Filtering Units per TPC
|Total SPs
|Total Texture Address Units
|Total Texture Filtering Units
For a 87.5% increase in compute, there's a mere 25% increase in texture processing power. This ratio echoes what NVIDIA has been preaching for years: that games are running more complex shaders and are not as bound by texture processing as they were in years prior. If this wasn't true then we'd see a closer to 25% increase in performance of GT200 over G80 at the same clock rather than something much greater.
It also means that GT200's performance advantage over G80 or G92 based architectures (e.g. GeForce 9800 GTX) will be determined much by how computationally bound the games we're testing are.
The ratio of increase compute/texture power in the GT200 has been evident in NVIDIA architectures for years now, dating back to the ill-fated GeForce FX. NVIDIA sacrificed memory bandwidth on the GeForce FX, equipping it with a narrow 128-bit memory bus (compared to ATI's 256-bit interface on the Radeon 9700 Pro) and instead focused on building a much more powerful compute engine. Unfortunately, the bet was the wrong one to make at the time and the GeForce FX was hardly competitive (for more reasons than just a lack of memory bandwidth), but today we're dealing in a very different world. Complex shader programs run on each pixel on the screen and there's a definite need for more compute power in today's GPUs.
An Increase in Rasterization Throughput
In addition to the 25% increase in texture processing capabilities of the GT200, NVIDIA added two more ROP partitions to the GPU. While the GeForce 8800 GTX had six ROP partitions, each capable of outputting a maximum of 4 pixels per clock, the GT200 adds two more partitions.
With eight ROP partitions the GT200 can now output a maximum of 32 pixels per clock, up from 24 pixels per clock in the GeForce 8800 GTX and 9800 GTX.
The pixel blend rate on G80/G92 was half-speed, meaning that while you could output 24 pixels per clock, you could only blend 12 pixels per clock. Thanks to the 65nm shrink and redesign, GT200 can now output and blend pixels at full speed - that's 32 pixels per clock for each.
The end result is a non-linear performance improvement in everything from anti-aliasing and fire effects to shadows on GT200. It's an evolutionary change, but that really does sum up many of the enhancements of GT200 over G80/G92.
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woofermazing - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linkIsn't the R700 high-end model going to have a direct link between the two cores. Could be a false rumor, but i would think that would solve a lot of problems with having two GPU's on a single board, since games would see it as 1 chip instead of a Crossfire/SLI setup. And besides, why the heck does it matter what the card looks like under the cooler. If it delivers better performance than Nvidia's offering without driver headaches, I don't think most gamers are going to care. Reply
VooDooAddict - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linkWhy am I the only one happy about this product?
Since the release of the 8800GTX top end single GPU performance has been a little stagnant... then came the refresh (8800GT/8800GTS-512) better prices came into effect.
Now we've got the new generation, and like in years prior, the new gen single GPU card has near performance of the previous gen in SLI. Price is also similar with when NVIDIA launched the first 8800GTX.
Sure, I wish they came in at a lower price point and at less power draw. (Same complaints that we had with the original 8800GTX). Lower power and lower price will come with a refresh.
Will I be getting one? ... nahh these cheap 9600GTs, overclocked 8800GT's and 8800GTSs will be the cards I recomend till i see the refresh. But I'm still happy there's progress.
I'm hoping the refresh hits around the same time as Intel's updated quad core. Reply
DerekWilson - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linki think its neat and has very interesting technology under the hood.
but i'm not gonna spend that much money for something that doesn't deliver enough value (or even performance) compared to other solutions that are available. you pretty much reflect my own sentiment there: it's another step forward but not one that you're gonna buy.
i think people "don't like it" because of that though. it just isn't worth it right now and that's certainly valid. Reply
greenx - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linkThere are two ways I can look at this article.
1)First an foremost at the heart of a real gamer ticks the need for good story lines fed by characters you will never forget, held by a gameplay you will fall in love with and finally covered by graphics that will transport you to another world (kinda like when I first played FF VII on my PC).
Within the context of the world we live in today I wonder what is really going through the minds of these people selling $600+ video cards. Kinda like those $10 000+ PCs. Madness. Sure they have their market up there but I shudder to think of how much money has been poured into appeasing a select few. Furthermore for what reason? Glory? I don't know but seeing as how the average gamer is what has made the PC/Gaming scene what it is, where does a $600+ video card fit into the grand scheme of things?
2) The possibilities that these new cards open up certainly seem exciting. The comparison with intel has been justified, but considering the other alternatives out there are much further ahead in development, who is going to bypass intel/amd/etc for a GPU technology based supercomputer?
DerekWilson - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linktwo address point 2):
developers will bypass Intel, AMD, SUN, whoever owns Cray these days, and all other HPC developers when a technology comes along that can speed up their applications by two orders of magnitude immediately on hardware that costs thousands (and in large cases millions) less to build, run and develop for. Reply
evolucion8 - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linkLOL that was quite funny but incorrect as well, there's more than 4 Billion of people in China, in the future probably nVidia will launch a 4 Billion Transistors GPU hehe. It will require a Nuclear Reactor to turn it on, a and two of them to play games :D Reply
7Enigma - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - link4 Billion? Did you just make that out of thin air. Latest tabs show approximately 1.4 billion (give or take a couple hundred million). The world population is only estimated at 6.6 billion, so unless 60% of the people in the world are living in China, you're clueless.
http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/...">http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/... Reply
Bahadir - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linkFirstly I must say I enjoyed reading the whole article written by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson. However, what does not make sense to me is the fact that "At most, 105 NVIDIA GT200 die can be produced on a single 300mm 65nm wafer from TSMC", but by looking at the wafer, only 95 full dies can be seen. Is this the wrong die?
Also, it is not fair to compare the die of the Penryn against the GTX 280die because Penryn's die was made in 45nm process and GTX280 was made in 65nm die. Maybe it would be fair to compare it with the Conroe (65nm) die. But well done folks for putting an excellent article together! Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linkThanks for your kind words btw :) Both of us really appreciate it - same to everyone else in this thread, thanks for making a ridiculously long couple of weeks (and a VERY long night) worth it :)
-A Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - linkYou're right, there's actually a maximum of 94 usable die per wafer :)
Take care,
Anand Reply